Darlene Cline has been a librarian for six years, and in those six years, she has continued to create an atmosphere at the library that makes children want to come. When I asked her why she wanted to be a librarian, she said, "Oh Lorrie, my head is so fried!" Okay, so let's start easy, do you like to read books? "I love to read." I asked her, "What's one of your favorite books you've ever read?"
"I think I have too many of those! I wanted to become a librarian for the kids and the community and do all the programs. I love doing the programs. And it keeps me going."
I laughed at that because the day before, there were 70 kids at the program, and she was the only one there. "You still loved it." "Yes." However, there is still a position opening for work at the library.
She loves doing the programs because all kids need to read. All kids need to stretch their imaginations. The best part is that not many kids read while they are here, but they grab their books to take home. They come here to hang out with their friends and learn new things. The library is more centrally important to the community because children learn here. They learned so many things. Crafts. They learned how to plant. Today it was first aid, and in the past, the kids have learned about animals, fishing and boat safety, and ambulances. They took a trip to the bank and went to the museum. It's not just reading books." Cline is also creating programs where you can learn about the world.
In other words, she's a critical, pivotal person in our community, Creating children's programs every summer for six years. They are well attended by the majority of the kids in town.
I noticed several adults always showing up here to search on the computers, reading the archive papers and all kinds of stuff. I think she has an incredible personality to be able to work with all age groups, from little tiny kids to older people. She makes the library a comfortable, safe place to learn. I've never seen her in a bad mood, I'm sure she gets in one occasionally, but I have never seen it. She greets the public with a smile and laughs easily when I'm laughing.
The library has people coming from out of town from all over the place, stopping because they have already heard that this is such a wonderful place, a fantastic place. They want to come and see what is here and there. They don't live here. They're not coming here for family. They're coming from wherever.
The library just got two boxes of new books delivered. "I'm busy wrapping the books with covers to keep people happy."
Besides being Big Sandy's Librarian for the past six years, she loves chickens, gardening, and kayaking. They are an outdoor activities family.
"I always love to see new people come in. People who want to learn something ask if we can bring it to the library, and I figured out how to get it here." She hopes everyone in Big Sandy has been there. Go check them out.
Judy Yirsa, also working to cover books, said, "I've been here for six years. I moved here from California. I only knew my husband's family. And one of the first places I came was the library because I had a young daughter and I was pregnant with the other, and right away, I met Darlene. She totally welcomed me in with a smile. She gives a smile every time. I quickly made friends, and she was very warm and very, you know, open to saying, Are your kids going to do soccer? Are they going to do, you know, whatever was going on? Because I didn't know. I was new here. And so she was a kind of an informational desk."
